Ironically, however, as Menand also makes clear, the first general education curricula were developed precisely to combat the problem of "irrelevance" - to provide college graduates with some cohesive and coherent shared knowledge that could not be contained within disciplinary boundaries but which would, the idea was, help fit them for post-college life.

Whatever comes after that (e.g. if more women occupy secretary positions than men) is irrelevant (of course, the irrelevance is a question of research, for example, there could still be “brainwashing” going on.)

By irrelevance we mean the extent to which the advisor is politically unambitious, and avoids basing advice on guessing what the policy maker will do with the advice, what is wanted, or what others are thinking.